How Andy Warhol Revolutionized Art & Sexuality

Andy Warhol is, without a doubt, one of the most vital and prolific figures of not just the art world during the 20th century, but in pop culture in general. Warhol was a visionary: someone who determined the results of the future and thought ahead of everyone else in his era. From managing the proto-punk band The Velvet Underground to creating avant-garde films that attracted an immense amount of criticism, it’s hard to name someone whose impact is as powerful as his.

An aspect of Warhol that was up for debate and was a part of many people’s curiosity was his sexuality. Andy Warhol identified as a gay man. One’s sexual orientation should not be the main focus of them, but the fact that he openly confessed his sexuality in a time where gay clubs were illegal and other homophobic laws were more vivid than they are today is worth learning about. Not only was he candid about being a homosexual, but even pulled elements of his sexuality into his own work. The first few pieces of art he submitted into galleries displayed “homoerotic drawings of male nudes”. These were rejected for being “too openly gay”. Despite the lack of success that came along with these works, that did not stop him from using his sexuality as a place to find inspiration. From his portraits of Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli to his films such as Lonesome Cowboys and Blow Job, he often drew from the gay underground scene. He even encountered trouble when attempting to find social acceptance with other (then closeted) gay artists such as Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg.

This wasn’t the only way in which he rebelled against the art institution and challenged the factors embedded within its roots. As the pioneer of pop art, he was not welcomed with praise when he first came along to the scene. Art was known to be an escape from popular media and the “real world”, as artists who flourished in the 1950s such as Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock took to the abstract movement as a method to ignore the mainstream. Warhol, however, did the opposite: from his 1964 Brillo Boxes to his portraits of iconic figures such as Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe, he was intertwined with what was happening. His partake in celebrity culture caused an outrage; people considered him to be a disgrace to the art community, and that his work couldn’t even be thought of as art. Little did they know that his “non-art” gifted him with longevity as one of the most important and eccentric artists.

It’s a solemn occurrence that someone will come along and alter the perspective of thousands, but Warhol made people reevaluate what art it is while genuinely producing the work he wanted to manifest. From paintings to films to photography, his creative adrenaline, unapologetic approach to sexuality and wide range of talents have sparked many to begin their own artistic journey. Although you may find nothing meaningful in the 32 canvases displaying different soup flavours, I, along with many others, are touched by it in a way that makes us question ourselves and our surroundings, proving the utter peculiarity and complexity of art.